I am here today to finally share my completed sewing cabinet with you! I know, I know…this cabinet took me a really long time to paint! If you have been following my previous posts and wondering as to when I would be sharing the “after” photos with you, thank you for being so patient with me! I can now finally say that it this cabinet is all done and I hope you like it as much as I do!

If this is your first time visiting my blog, you can read about how I was very lucky to find my sweet little sewing cabinet for a song here. Sorry, you will need to scroll down to the bottom of the post for the details. 

My cabinet looks to be in pretty good shape in its “before” photo below. Don’t get me wrong, it was in great shape for its age. In reality though, there were some minor imperfections that needed to be addressed such as some chipping of the paint and some cracking that needed patching. I also wasn’t in love with its tomato red color so I decided that a complete makeover was in order for this cabinet.

Are you ready for the after?

Here she is with her new look. What do you think?

Some of you had said that you would like to see my cabinet painted turquoise. I ended up choosing Behr Gem Turquoise mixed at 50% strength as her final color. It is a gorgeous light peacock blue color. I can’t wait to use this color again soon!

Sometimes when I am working on a project, things don’t always go as planned. This seems to happen to me a lot lately! Does the same thing happen to you as well?

What happened this time? Well, I spent part of the day Sunday taking photos to share with you because it was such a beautiful sunny day. Then when I went to upload the photos from my camera to my computer there was a malfunction of the SD memory card and I couldn’t get the photos off of my camera no matter what I tried. It really was my fault for thinking that it was OK to store over 2500 photos on my memory card and not erase them at some point. Thankfully, I had the majority of the photos already saved to my computer and I was also able to find my other camera to use as a back-up, so I apologize if some of my photos are a little dark. These photos were taken as the sun was starting to set.

This cabinet was modified by one of its previous owners to fit a modern-day sewing machine. The top flips up and my new sewing machine fits perfectly inside. It cannot be stored inside the cabinet when not in use, but it works wonderfully for when it is time to sew. I plan to eventually make a cloth cover for my machine to keep it dust free.

I also want to find a little chair to use with this cabinet sometime soon. In the meantime, my milk painted toile bench fits underneath pretty well. Maybe I should just use the bench and change the fabric to one with a bit of turquoise in it. What do you think? Do you think a chair would be better?

 Milk Painted Toile Bench

Photo Transferred Vintage Sewing Box

I decided to use Behr Premium Plus Paint and Primer In One on this cabinet. I had never had a chance to try out it before and I wanted to see for myself if it was as good as some people had said it was. I will be sharing my thoughts on this paint in an upcoming post.

Anyway, I prepared my cabinet for painting by giving it a good cleaning and then a light sanding. I then painted it with two coats of the Behr Paint/Primer In One, sanding with 400 grit sandpaper in between coats. I distressed it lightly with 220 grit sandpaper to bring out some of the red basecoat and then I followed up by glazing the entire cabinet with a burnt umber glaze to help bring out the details in the carvings. I made sure to wipe away the majority of the glaze as I was applying it to not “dirty” the final finish. Finally, I finished everything off by applying three coats of my favorite topcoat for durability. The finish feels so velvety smooth!

 Don’t you just love the wooden appliques on this cabinet? They are my favorite part!

I wanted to keep the keyholes and the holes on the bottom of the cabinet legs intact instead of filling them in with wood putty.  Even though the keys are long gone and the holes at the bottom of the legs mostly likely held the wheel that ran the original sewing machine, I think this cabinet is sweet with all of its little quirks!

Here she is all set up ready for use.

I am in love with my “new” little turquoise sewing cabinet! I can’t wait until we move so I can have craft room to store it in instead of it taking up prime real estate in my living room.

Before I leave you I am having a tiny little dilemma that I am hoping you could help me with. My Mom was over last night visiting. She really likes what I have done with my cabinet but she thinks that the long drawer on the front is too plain and that it is missing something. She thinks it needs some knobs or another scrolly.

My personal opinion is that this cabinet already has enough scrollies on it and adding more would just make it too busy. I thought of adding some crystal knobs to give the cabinet a little bit of glamour but then they would need to be fairly small because there is not much depth available there. This little drawer has a magnetic closure and it tilts forward when opened.

What do you think? Should I just leave the drawer as is? I would be grateful for your opinion on what you think I should do.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

 Parties I’ve Linked Up To:

~ Debbiedoos – Debbiedoos Newbie Party ~ Craft Envy – Saturday Spotlight ~ Coastal Charm – Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays ~ Vintage Wanna Bee – Talent Tuesday ~ Not Just a Housewife – Show Me Whatcha Got ~ A Stroll Thru Life – Tabletop Tuesday ~ Uncommon Designs – Uncommonly Yours Linky Party ~ Domestically Speaking – 125th Power of the Paint Party ~ The Trendy Treehouse – Create and Share ~ Savvy Southern Style – Wow Us Wednesdays ~ The Shady Porch – Rock n’ Share ~ Let Birds Fly – Exodus 35 Creativity Party ~ Thrifty Decor Chick – May Before and After Party ~ Mrs. Hines Class – Show & Tell N o. 21 ~ Restore Interiors – Restored It Wednesday ~ Embracing Change – Creative Inspirations Party ~ The Shabby Creek Cottage – Transformation Thursday ~ Somewhat Simple – Blog Link Party ~ The Brambleberry Cottage – Time Travel Thursday ~ Crafty Scrappy Happy – Crafty Scrappy Happy Me ~ The French Country Cottage – Feathered Nest Friday ~ Craftionary – Friday Fun Party ~ Miss Mustard Seed – Furniture Feature Friday ~ Redoux Interiors – Friday Features #55 ~ Finding Fabulous – Frugalicious Friday ~ It’s a Hodgepodge Life – It’s a Hodgepodge Friday ~ Fingerprints on the Fridge – Feature Yourself Saturday ~ Chic on a Shoestring Decorating – Flaunt It Friday ~ My Romantic Home – Show and Tell Friday ~ The Shabby Nest – Frugal Friday ~ Addicted to Decorating – Addicts (Not So) Anonymous Link Party ~ Funky Junk Interiors – SNS 133 Link Party ~ Tatertots and Jello – Weekend Wrap Up Party ~ Be Different Act Normal – Show and Tell Saturdays ~ Under the Table and Dreaming – Sunday Showcase Party ~ Homemakers on a Dime – Creative Bloggers’ Party & Hop ~ Skip to My Lou – Made By You Monday ~ Sumo’s Sweet Stuff – Market Yourself Mondays ~ DIY Showoff – DIY Project Parade ~ Craft-o-Maniac – Craft-o-Maniac Monday ~ Between Naps on the Porch – Metamorphosis Monday ~ Sunny Vanilla – Co-Host Linky Party ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia – Tuesdays Treasures ~ Home Stories A to Z – Tutorials & Tips Link Party ~ Our DIY Diaries – Fab Not Drab Friday ~ Liz Marie – Link Up With Me ~ Simply Designing – Simply Link Party ~ Days of Chalk & Chocolate – Latest Greatest Friday ~ Craft Envy – Saturday Spotlight ~ I Gotta Create – Wildly Original Round-up ~ I Should Be Mopping the Floors – Mop It Up Mondays ~ Vintage Mauve – Mauvin’ Monday ~ Decorating Insanity – Furniture Friday ~

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